NBA 2K

We’re now half-way through 2015. As time marches ever onward, quicker and quicker towards the screaming oblivion that is our graves, we shall hear that bell will soon ring and we will be taken into the void by the reape...

Robert Summa just covered the news that Spike Lee (Do the Right Thing) is directing the campaign mode in the upcoming NBA 2K16. As some commenters pointed out, though, his story lacked a key fact that, really, deserves its ow...

The 2K sports franchises used to have a stellar reputation. NFL 2K and NBA 2K long-served as safe havens from the inconsistency and frustration that EA's counterparts offered.
While NFL 2K was put aside due to licensing deals...

2K has confirmed that NBA 2K16 will release in both Europe and North America on September 29.
Can't wait that long? Well, if you're willing to put your money where your mouth is with a pre-order, you'll be able to play it up ...

2K is working on a new "soon-to-be-announced" AAA title.
"Throughout the coming year, we will continue to execute our proven strategy of launching a select array of the highest-quality titles, led by new annual releases of NB...

If you're a non-sports game fan, then your only association with NBA2K is probably the image above of my boy Jeffrey. Poor Jeffrey, he's literally become the face of an entire franchise.
It doesn't have to be this way. And it...

Turn-around jumpers, one-handed dunks, pull up treys -- this new NBA 2K15 trailer has it all for anyone that cares about defense as much as James Harden does. All that silky smooth rock-handling is even easier to digest...

A new NBA 2K15 trailer is out in the wild, and it deals with the new mentor system. Last year the developer facilitated a mentorship mechanic with Lebron James, but now the idea has expanded to every NBA team, so whethe...

Whether you're in it for the aggressive poster-worthy dunks or the smooth groove put down by the Red Hot Chili Peppers' Flea, everything about this NBA 2K15 trailer is in your face. And, that's before Shaq weighs in wit...

What's happening in basketball these days? That LeBron fellow went back to that city where everyone hated him for a bit and now they're all going to pretend like that didn't happen. Carmelo decided to stay in New York after o...

If there are still any Xbox One holdouts among you that would like a Kinect included, Walmart is running a pretty nice promotion.
For the standard SKU price of $499, you will get an Xbox One with Kinect, a down...

Ladies and Gents, the Gentlemans Club is away this week so I decided to fill their empty seat. With the Steam Autumn Sale going down on the mean streets of the internet, I decided to throw my money at NBA 2K13 for one reason....

I'm not sure how this eluded me for three months, but I am here to make amends.
Why there's no Quad City DJs pumped over the boring in-game audio I don't know, but this is a thing of beauty all the same.
Game jams are such a huge thing these days -- let's see a Space Jam game jam, please.

The world's biggest basketball videogame is about to get a bit bigger and expand across the sea. 2K Sports has just announced a multi-year partnership between Euroleague Basketball and the NBA 2K franchise to bring 14 Eu...

Jun 13 //
Steven HansenShooting around with Irving felt solid. The game features EA's Ignite Engine for the physics and though there wasn't any player on player contact, simply dribbling around felt well grounded and tactile. Mapped to the right analog stick was a a sensible series of moves -- up to stutter step, back to dribble behind the back, and so on.
In addition to these moves, star players will have unique, special move sets activated by holding L1 in concert with left analog flicks. All the moves can be linked and you can turn up into a shot at any moment rather than getting yourself stuck in a fancy animation. Shooting itself at this time didn't seem to go beyond holding square and praying. I tried to time shots as NBA 2K has gotten me accustom to and it didn't appear to make a difference.
NBA Live 14 is still a ways out, but competition is what drives sports games to be good, so hopefully EA can turn this once yearly franchise back into a solid product that can go one on one with NBA 2K.

EA lacing up its kicks next year with long dormant franchiseNBA Elite 11 got cancelled once upon a time, dramatically close to its expected release. Fast forward a few years. EA tried to get back in the simulation basketball game with NBA Live 13, but it too got canned due to "quality...

2K Sports is still chugging with the successful NBA 2K franchise, and for its next entry, NBA superstar LeBron James will be gracing the cover. The ever polarizing LeBron is pretty much a no-brainer for any cover after legiti...

Take-Two held its quarterly earnings call today to report on the end of its fourth-quarter and fiscal year. The company finished the year at a loss, but there were many bright spots to be optimistic about.
Of particular note,...

2K Sports has announced that accompanying the March 5 release of MLB 2K13 will be a combo pack that features NBA 2K13 alongside the baseball game. The bundle will retail for $80, which is a savings of $40 over purchasing...

2K Sports released this new video showing some of the unique features players of the Wii U version of NBA 2K13 will be able to look forward to when it launches next week. Given special attention is the Gatorade Biometri...

2K Sports has announced that NBA 2K13 is due out for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, Wii, and PSP on October 2, 2012, in North America, and October 5 worldwide. A Wii U version is also in development; it will be released during ...

Jul 21 //
Steven HansenNBA 2K12 (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 [Previewed]) Developer: 2k Sports Publisher: Visual Concepts To be released: October 4, 2011 The idea behind this year’s iteration of the franchise was to make a gameplay jump commensurate to that made between NBA 2K10 and NBA2K11 and it shows. For example, the post game was completely redesigned in last year’s game, yet the team felt the need to go back to the drawing board and shake things up once more. Now, pressing Y (or triangle) in the post is used for activating the post game, freeing up both triggers and the right stick. This opens up the post game entirely compared to last year’s game, as every single move in the game’s impressive arsenal suddenly becomes available to players in the post. This newfound freedom effectively captures one of the leading tenets of NBA 2K12, which is making sure the gamer is the one scripting the actions and flow of a game, not canned animations. Accordingly, from the start of a shot, you will have control over what your player does. This includes things like switching hands in the air while attempting a layup and even deciding to kick out a pass right after committing to taking a shot. It’s all about putting control in the player’s hands. The game’s AI has also seen a lot of tweaking. For example, the same zone defense scheme that the Dallas Mavericks used to best the Heat now plays much more smartly. One of the complaints about defensive players in last year’s game was their Spidey Sense-like ability to reach and arm out and deflect a pass without even looking. The team admitted that it was a band-aid meant to discourage players from running their player down court before their team was going to get a rebound and then having the rebounder pass the ball to the now-wide-open man down court. In NBA 2K12, issues like that have had time to be addressed much more thoroughly.
The AI system has been completely rewritten to be more dynamic. In last year’s game, the AI would run specific plays, which could often lead to the player figuring out the plays and making the appropriate jumps on the ball over and over. Worse still, when the AI had its play snuffed out, they would default to a generic brand of basketball intelligence, defaulting to simple plays. The new system is now much more divergent, giving the AI more options if their primary options aren’t available. This keeps the players on their feet and makes the AI more of a challenge as well as more like a human opponent, which should do well to extend the life of the game. I got to play as the NBA Champion Dallas Mavericks in the latest build of NBA 2K12 and played against the same Miami Heat team Dallas trumped in the NBA Finals earlier this year. Given my brief experience with NBA 2K11 going in, I was surprised by how quickly I was able to notice some of the gameplay changes made in NBA 2K12. One of the things that stood out to me most during the game is the new physics engine, which handles all forms of contact, and reacts according to the situation. For example, shorter players will have a much tougher time out rebounding bigs, and player on player contact differs depending on whether the contact takes place in the air or on the ground. The other notable impact of this system is the newly implemented live ball physics. In last year’s game, the ball didn’t seem to go live often, and most players could keep a handle on it fairly easily. In 2K12, the ball can make contact with anything and react accordingly, leading to a lot more intense scrambles for possession. The live ball physics forced me to watch my play style immediately because no longer could I make contact with people without paying careful attention to the ball. I lost handle of the ball a lot early on because I would be running down the court and I would basically dribble it off my own teammate inattentively -- something the game rarely accounted for in last year’s game. Not only did it help make me feel like I was playing a more accurate brand of basketball, but I got to experience some of those aforementioned intense scrambles for possession and they were exciting.
A lot of other subtle touches have been made that won’t be lost on fans of last year’s game. The entire first row of the crowd is now live. That is, it’s fully possible to interact with them; for example, diving into the first row while trying to keep the ball in bounds or having a lunging defensive player’s momentum take him over the scorer’s table. The facial animations and character models have all seen tweaks in the name of authentic player representation and the team was particularly happy with white players finally having a more realistic looking skin tone.
I was also pleasantly surprised to see a letter rating system (F, B+, etc.) pop up after taking shots. A high letter grade doesn’t always ensure a made bucket, nor does a low letter preclude a possible bucket, but the system rates both how well you took the shot and the quality of the shot itself. It would take into consideration if you were well defended or didn’t have your feet set. It’s a nice bit of immediate, tangible feedback that feels like it can be used to adjust your game accordingly. Speaking of adjusting your game, it also has a feature allowing you to adjust your play style on the fly, bypassing menus and keeping you in the action. With the system, you’ll be able to assign specific players a specific role, or quickly swap between playing philosophies (lock down the paint, pressure shooters, etc.), whether it’s just for the present play or for the rest of the game. Thankfully, one of my few complaints with last year’s game has also been addressed. Refs no longer hold onto the ball for an inordinate amount of time when the player is taking the ball out or shooting free throws, which livens up the game’s pace by removing those occasional, jarring stops in the action where the player would mash the A button and scream at the ref to give them the damn ball. A combination of reworked AI and an advancing physics engine actually made NBA 2K12 feel more fluid to me than last year’s game, despite 2K12 being so far out from release. If you’re a basketball fan, I think the only question left might just be “Which cover am I getting?”

As we reported earlier, NBA 2K12’s cover athletes -- yes, athletes -- have been revealed, but I’m sure some fans aren’t sold yet. After all, we want some advancement in our games, right? Well, I was able to ...